The Sexual Attraction Toward Disabilities
A population of devotees was studied between June 2009 and July 2010 according to a previously adopted and published study protocol. In the current paper, the term 'devotism' will be used to name the study population. We are aware that the term 'devotism' may configure itself as a 'jargon term', but it is referenced in the scientific literature. In addition, no alternative terms with attested scientific basis and those that refer to subjects attracted by all kinds of disabilities may be found in the literature. Other scientific sounding terms, such as acrotomophilia, refer to subjects attracted by amputation alone and do not include all kinds of disabilities. The study group was an international population-based sample of men who had agreed to participate in Internet surveys. Data were collected from public access areas of English, German, Italian and Spanish-language section of Yahoo! Groups (http://groups.yahoo.com). By registering with the Yahoo! service, anyone is entitled to create discussion groups on any topic, provided no copyrighted material is posted and sexual or otherwise sensitive content is posted only to age-restricted sections of the site (see Yahoo!'s terms of service at http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms). The word 'devotism' that we used to locate data on sexual preferences is used with a much broader significance. So, we have used the term 'devotees' added to the following terms: 'disability', 'amputations', 'wheelchair', 'crutches', 'blindness', 'sexuality' or the single terms 'amputees' or 'devotees handicap'. Additional Yahoo! groups were found on the web site 'devguide.org/home.shtml' on the basis of recommendations from members of the Yahoo! groups. After identification of possible participants, contact was then maintained by personal emails. Subjects were asked to participate in this survey if they were or had ever been sexually attracted toward physical or mental disabilities. Anyone who did not meet this criterion was excluded from the study. Participants agreeing to take part received a detailed description of the study aims and design and the level of commitment to which they would be agreeing. They were required to provide written informed consent before completing the survey. The participants were unpaid and joined freely in the research. Subjects reporting themselves as under the age of 18 years were excluded.
A multilingual semi-structured questionnaire was developed at the University of L'Aquila. Multilingual semi-structured questionnaires were sent to 435 participants, and 348 questionnaires were returned. Of these, 219 were complete and potentially usable for our analysis. However, we decided to exclude 10 participants who described themselves as female devotees because of impossibility to perform significant comparisons. A total of 209 (60%) questionnaires were included in the final analysis and 139 (40%) were excluded, as large parts of the questionnaires were incomplete or incongruous. Relevant ethical safeguards were met with regard to participant confidentiality and informed consent.
Psychologists, psychotherapists and sexologists from the School of Sexology of L'Aquila University were asked to provide their suggestions for relevant questions for the sociodemographic and psychosexological characterization of the devotee population. The questionnaire was developed from the literature evidence and personal clinical experience. The final version consisted of 14 items, with the Kinsey Scale used to measure sexual orientation. There were five domains, each with open and closed questions. The open questions were intended to assist the investigators in gathering as much relevant data as possible. The domains (Supplementary Appendix I) explored demographic profile and sexual orientation (Items 1–5), critical events for the development of devotism (Items 6–8,13), the quality and features of social and sexual relationships (Items 9/c, 10, 11), preference for a specific disability (Items 12,14,15) and discomfort caused by devotism (Items 9/a,9/b,9/d). Forward–backward translation of the questionnaire was carried out. The study protocol was accepted by the Ethic Committee of Rohe University.
Categorical data were summarized by absolute and/or relative frequencies. Continuous variables were condensed to mean and standard deviation when appropriate. All statistical analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical analysis software package, version 10.0.
Materials and Methods
Subjects
A population of devotees was studied between June 2009 and July 2010 according to a previously adopted and published study protocol. In the current paper, the term 'devotism' will be used to name the study population. We are aware that the term 'devotism' may configure itself as a 'jargon term', but it is referenced in the scientific literature. In addition, no alternative terms with attested scientific basis and those that refer to subjects attracted by all kinds of disabilities may be found in the literature. Other scientific sounding terms, such as acrotomophilia, refer to subjects attracted by amputation alone and do not include all kinds of disabilities. The study group was an international population-based sample of men who had agreed to participate in Internet surveys. Data were collected from public access areas of English, German, Italian and Spanish-language section of Yahoo! Groups (http://groups.yahoo.com). By registering with the Yahoo! service, anyone is entitled to create discussion groups on any topic, provided no copyrighted material is posted and sexual or otherwise sensitive content is posted only to age-restricted sections of the site (see Yahoo!'s terms of service at http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms). The word 'devotism' that we used to locate data on sexual preferences is used with a much broader significance. So, we have used the term 'devotees' added to the following terms: 'disability', 'amputations', 'wheelchair', 'crutches', 'blindness', 'sexuality' or the single terms 'amputees' or 'devotees handicap'. Additional Yahoo! groups were found on the web site 'devguide.org/home.shtml' on the basis of recommendations from members of the Yahoo! groups. After identification of possible participants, contact was then maintained by personal emails. Subjects were asked to participate in this survey if they were or had ever been sexually attracted toward physical or mental disabilities. Anyone who did not meet this criterion was excluded from the study. Participants agreeing to take part received a detailed description of the study aims and design and the level of commitment to which they would be agreeing. They were required to provide written informed consent before completing the survey. The participants were unpaid and joined freely in the research. Subjects reporting themselves as under the age of 18 years were excluded.
A multilingual semi-structured questionnaire was developed at the University of L'Aquila. Multilingual semi-structured questionnaires were sent to 435 participants, and 348 questionnaires were returned. Of these, 219 were complete and potentially usable for our analysis. However, we decided to exclude 10 participants who described themselves as female devotees because of impossibility to perform significant comparisons. A total of 209 (60%) questionnaires were included in the final analysis and 139 (40%) were excluded, as large parts of the questionnaires were incomplete or incongruous. Relevant ethical safeguards were met with regard to participant confidentiality and informed consent.
Semi-structured Questionnaire
Psychologists, psychotherapists and sexologists from the School of Sexology of L'Aquila University were asked to provide their suggestions for relevant questions for the sociodemographic and psychosexological characterization of the devotee population. The questionnaire was developed from the literature evidence and personal clinical experience. The final version consisted of 14 items, with the Kinsey Scale used to measure sexual orientation. There were five domains, each with open and closed questions. The open questions were intended to assist the investigators in gathering as much relevant data as possible. The domains (Supplementary Appendix I) explored demographic profile and sexual orientation (Items 1–5), critical events for the development of devotism (Items 6–8,13), the quality and features of social and sexual relationships (Items 9/c, 10, 11), preference for a specific disability (Items 12,14,15) and discomfort caused by devotism (Items 9/a,9/b,9/d). Forward–backward translation of the questionnaire was carried out. The study protocol was accepted by the Ethic Committee of Rohe University.
Statistical Methods
Categorical data were summarized by absolute and/or relative frequencies. Continuous variables were condensed to mean and standard deviation when appropriate. All statistical analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical analysis software package, version 10.0.
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